FAMILY SPHINGIDAE
View Image Gallery of Family Sphingidae

Acherontia styx Westwood
Sphinx (Acherontia) styx Westwood, 1844, Cabinet Orient. Ent., p. 88.
Acherontia styx Westwood; Rothschild & Jordan, 1903: 21.
Acherontia medusa Butler, 1876, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., 9: 597.


Acherontia styx  
(.65 natural size)


Diagnosis.
See Acherontia lachesis Fabricius.

Taxonomic notes. Bornean material is referable to ssp. medusa Butler.

Geographical range. Oriental Region to S. Moluccas.

Habitat preference. The species is very much rarer than its congener. In recent surveys three specimens only have been taken, in a vegetable growing area at Bundu Tuhan on G. Kinabalu (1200m).

Biology. Dupont & Roepke (1941) stated the larva to be green or greyish brown in Java, the horn less recurved than in lachesis. In India the green form is much commoner than yellow or brown forms (Bell & Scott, 1937); the thoracic segments are yellower than the rest, the coloration similar to that of lachesis. In India the green form is much commoner than yellow or brown forms (Bell & Scott, 1937); the thoracic segments are yellower than the rest, the coloration similar to that of lachesis.

Recorded host-plants (Bell & Scott, 1937; Browne, 1968; Pholboon, 1965; Yunus & Ho, 1980; Miyata, 1983) are: Nerium (Apocynaceae); Bignonia, Pyrostegia, Spathodea, Tecoma (Bignoniaceae); Porana (Convolvulaceae); Coccinia (Cucurbitaceae); Coleus (Labiatae); Dolichos, Erythrina, Glycine, Psophocarpus, (Leguminosae); Eugenia, Syzygium (Myrtaceae); Jasminum, Nycthanthes (Oleaceae); Sesamum (Pedaliaceae); Gardenia (Rubiaceae); Capsicum, Datura, Nicotiana, Physaliastrum, Solanum (Solanaccae); Citharexylum, Clerodendrum, Tectona, Vitex (Verbenaceae).

<<Back >>Forward <<Return to Contents page


Copyright © Southdene Sdn. Bhd. All rights reserved.